The General Assemblies had been silent over the use of drugs for 18 years when the 1948 PCUSA Assembly approved Overture 27 supporting "Instruction in the Public Schools with Reference to Intoxicants and Narcotics."  (PCUSA, 1948, p. 38)  In 1953, the Assembly argued for ". . . sharper penalties for those guilty of the sale of narcotics, additional facilities for the apprehension of such criminals, and more abundant resources for the rehabilitation of narcotic victims . . ." (PCUSA, 1953, p. 187).

   As awareness of the drug problem grew in the 1960's, the 1965 and 1966 UPCUSA Assemblies acted to support public policies of alternatives to criminal prosecution in the treatment of addicts.  The PCUS offered its major statement on drug use in 1971, excerpted below.  In the same year, the UPCUSA Assembly directed the Department of Church and Society to "mobilize efforts to stimulate meaningful negotiations with the governments of those countries producing illicit drugs so as to curb their flow into the international black market and to seek responsible legislative and police controls of organized production and distribution of these drugs within our own borders . . ." (UPCUSA, 1971, p. 147).

   The General Assemblies have only recently begun to address the issues of tobacco addiction and abuse.  In 1987, the General Assembly first spoke to this issue in a policy statement, which is noted below.  In 1990, the General Assembly urged the Congress ". . . to make exports of cigarettes and the advertising of cigarettes abroad subject to the same restrictions on labeling and the advertising of cigarettes as apply to the sale or distribution and advertising of cigarettes in the United States . . ." (PC(USA), 1990, p. 498).  In 1992, the General Assembly adopted Tobacco Investment Guidelines, and directed the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment to develop a list of companies from which the church should divest, or proscribe for future investment (PC(USA), 1992, p. 661).